Dances with Shinsoo
by HaeSensei
Summary: Shinsoo is a young dragon knight out on a quest- to break up a guild that is harboring some strange beings. How will this inexperienced DK fare against the... eccentric members of her new guild when they are all trying to keep a secret? A story full of adventure, mystery, romance and plenty of quirky misunderstandings.


When I was young my daddy told me…

'A name is a gift to one, given by their parents'

Granddad called him Dances-with-Balrog in hope that he would become a greater warrior than he was…

And in the same hope that I would one day surpass him, daddy named me after the most powerful being of my time.

I am…

**Dances with Shinsoo**

_a story told by HaeSensei  
_

_Dedicated to xMekanx and sharoncys_

* * *

_**Chapter one**_**  
**_Otherwise known as_**  
****When Morning comes**

It was a fine day in bright and cheerful Hennesseys. The sun was shining, the snails were snailing and mushrooms of all kind were bouncing across the wide green plains. Somewhere on the outskirts of this beautiful city, our lovely protagonist was huddled in bed, sleeping in her white singlet and heart-printed shorts.

BANG!

"GOOD MORNING SHINSOO! THE WORLD SAYS HELLO! AND POOCHIE SAYS HELLO TOOOOO!"

Ow! The pain! The young dragon knight sprung up from the floor and hollered at the man standing in front of her with his pet green mushroom.

"Billy!" she shrieked. "How many times must I tell you not to throw me off my bed!?"

The other merely smiled. "Aww… Shinsoo not happy to see your bestest brother?" he said. "Look! Poochie is happy~"

He shoved the green mushroom into Shinsoo's face.

Happy? Shinsoo squinted at Billy's creature, monster, pet thing. He didn't look happy. He just looked green… and for some reason, very angry.

"Grr…" it growled…

And scratched Shinsoo on her face.

* * *

The Billy that we speak of here is Shinsoo's older brother. He is 180cm tall, with lots of bulk and muscles. His hair is brown and wild. On a normal day he smells of sweat. On days when he works really hard, he smells even worse. Basically he is your typical warrior who bashes through the dusty cliffs of Perion screaming battle cries at every mountain peak. Like all warriors, he has an intelligence level of 4.

From this brief description we can see that he's not very handsome and not very smart. But he **is** one of Maple's most powerful dark knights- that is a fact that cannot be denied.

Therefore, Shinsoo looks up to her brother. Except the bit on stinking, it is her grand desire to become like him… Her mind cannot comprehend why someone so unintelligent or so unrefined can become so great. She sincerely believes such an achievement must have taken a lot of effort and hard work. So she strives with all her might to embody this relentless spirit.

On a side note, Poochie is Billy's pet. (And yes, Poochie is a very important character in the story.)

Back to the story…

* * *

"So big brother, what brings you here so early in the morning?" Shinsoo asked, dabbing her face with a warm white towel. The green mushroom that had recently clawed her was pacing up and down the wooden floorboards. He was still fuming. A dark murderous aura enveloped him stump and cap.

"Shouldn't you be with your guild mates… Keika, Priston and the rest?"

Billy made a face- to be exact, it was the F3 face.

"Shinsoo not happy?" he quizzed. "But dada told me to look for you. Dada went over to Uncle Grendel's place just now. He says he's got a job for you."

Shinsoo who was sitting on her bed, out of the reach of the nasty green mushroom blinked in surprise. "A quest? That's rare," she mused. She had done a lot of quests for her dad when she was young: doing dishes, washing clothes, mopping the house… Her daddy had promised her that such training would grant her the special EXP to find a life partner. However, since she had moved away, there were not such quests.

Her older brother shrugged. "Billy don't know nothing…" he said. "Except that Shinsoo got to meet dada at the old man's tree."

* * *

So Shinsoo tidied herself up and set off on foot to Grendel-the-Really-Old's place. Although she had been pushed off the bed and scratched, Shinsoo was feeling great as she tromped down the leafy green Ellinia path. Shinsoo liked Ellinia very much. There was something mystical about the world where the trees were so tall they touched the sky. They went up and up and up into a world close to the birds. Shinsoo inhaled deeply and grinned. Everything about Ellinia felt magical… as if it had existed in a time long before the world began. Sunlight streamed through the verdant canopy, full of magic and a warm spring scent.

_No wait, I'm getting distracted. Focus! Focus!_ Shinsoo thought and slapped her face thrice. She ran through her mind what her dad might possibly want her to do. It couldn't be those 'special quests' right? Maybe take out a few cellions or cook a wild boar…

"But what has that got to do with Mr. Grendel…" she furrowed her brows, very deep in thought.

Just as she was thinking, she heard a loud scream tear through the forest.

Shinsoo stopped in her tracks.

"SORRY! SORRY! Excuse me! Make way! Coming through!" someone was shouting.

There was a gust of cold air as something… or someone shot past the dazed dragon knight. A man? With white hair and a scarf flapping frantically behind him.

He disappeared momentarily into the bushes.

_Maybe he's catching the ship at Sixtopia_, Shinsoo thought wisely. _Maybe he's a criminal on the loose. Maybe I ought to…_

Hmm…

Then something else happened. The man who had run into the bushes emerged and came running at her. Shinsoo being too stunned to react stood still. She'd dragon roar a monster if it came charging, but this wasn't a monster. It was a man, and he looked a bit weak at that… with those glasses and that long sleeved cardigan.

He stopped two feet away from her, bowed and panting.

"You!" he said, sounding quite desperate. "You! Young lady! You look strong enough. Please help me!"

Strong enough? Shinsoo's eyes widened and she pointed to herself. Well, being a dragon knight, she **was **strong… but…

"Just hide me alright? And distract anyone who asks where I am!" he gushed. "Please help me! I'm out of MP. My life depends on it!"

"Sure," the kind-hearted Shinsoo said.

The man bowed, his face filling with gratitude. "Thank you!" he dipped his head. "You're a lifesaver. I owe you one."

Without further ado, Shinsoo grabbed the man and thrust him into the bushes. With all her might, she hewed off some nearby branches and began decorating the poor fellow. Within a minute, Shinsoo was done. She stepped back to admire her work. Okay, maybe it wasn't as nice as the flower arrangements in Orbis, but she had tried her best and she was proud of herself. She wiped her sweat away and congratulated herself. The man was completely hidden from sight. The tree branches would block any passer-by's view. They were probably also blocking the man's windpipe, judging from the sounds he was making but… it was okay right? He wasn't dead yet.

Shinsoo took two steps back and surveyed the area. Where was the danger that this man was hiding from? It must have been really really bad to have sent him running like that…

Then she spotted it—a large dust cloud and the sound of rumbling. A stampede!? Shinsoo freaked. Hiding someone wouldn't save him from a stampede! She considered grabbing him and making away, but it was too late. The cloud was advancing like a typhoon on the banks of Nautilus harbour until it…

…stopped.

The dust slowly dispersed revealing a dozen or so shadowy figure. These were… these were… women? But wait, they were not ordinary women. All of them had the crazy fan-girl look in their eyes. Now Shinsoo began wishing she had brought her weapon… it would come in useful in a time like this, but the fact of the matter was that she hadn't.

"Come on girls! He couldn't have gone far!" one of them was cheering. She was wearing a tink-tight leather suit and a pair of kitty ears. Her fish net stockings made her look very dubious.

She twirled about enthusiastically, and stabbed her finger in Shinsoo's direction. The warrior gulped.

"Girl! You saw him didn't you? Tell me where he is now!" she demanded.

Shinsoo looked at the woman waving a claw in front of her. _Probably,_ Shinsoo observed, _the leader of the pack_. She looked menacing, very possibly, she was off a higher level than Shinsoo. The dragon knight sized up the others behind their leader. She could take them on one by one, but not as a bunch. _Never never_, she remembered, _underestimate the power of a girl with a crazy fan-girl look in her eyes_.

Shinsoo didn't want to get beaten up.

"What do I do?" she called.

Suddenly, a ray of shining light pierced the darkness of Shinsoo's confused mind. Shinsoo looked up. There, hovering in the dark was the bright figure of Billy—the imaginary Billy. Although he was only a figment of imagination, he had come to give her advice.

"Billy what do I do?" she repeated.

Imaginary Billy looked benevolently at his little sister, the halo of bright light blazing behind him. "Hmph! True warrior never betray innocent soul."

Okay, yes… but…

"True warrior never lie!" he added with conviction.

Shinsoo nodded. This was very good advice. But… this wasn't helping her problem.

"True warrior will always look to Poochie in times of trouble!"

Eh? Poochie?

Suddenly Shinsoo realized that there was something gnawing at her leg. She looked down and lo and behold. It was Poochie! She didn't know why Poochie was on her leg, but it didn't matter. Wasting no time, she reached down, grabbed the mushroom and flung it headlong at the crowd.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

The mushroom emitted a thin humming noise of displeasure as it hurtled through the air. Then landing splat on the leader's heavily made-up face, the abused mushroom unleashed its violent fury.

At first the mushroom strategy seemed to be working quite well. That was until the leader ripped the mushroom off, swearing at the top of her lungs. Then she turned to Shinsoo, her crazy fan-girl gaze had given way to something Shinsoo recognized as mean and deadly. The warrior girl made a face. This was not going to be pretty…

"GIRLS GET HER!"

Crashes, bangs and explosions filled the air.

* * *

_Billy, I know that I must stand up for those who need me…_

_I know that is the way of a true warrior…_

_But is it really worth the effort?_

…

Something cold tickled her cheek. Something cool and comforting, like the touch of rain in her parched homeland Perion. Strange. Something felt odd… she felt weightless, as if she was flying.

_I'm not dead… am I?_ she thought.

Well, even if she was, this didn't feel bad. She could feel something safe and solid under her, holding her up… and that tingle… magic…

"Shinsoo," a deep voice called. It sounded as if it came from far away, like the bottom of a deep well. "Wake up young one."

Shinsoo opened her eyes. Ah… she was hurting all over but she wasn't dead. There were some human figures above her, leaning in to inspect her.

"Daddy? Mr. Grendel?" she murmured.

"Ah… she's finally come to…" the deep voice boomed. Grendel-the-Really-Old turned to the Dances-with-Balrog. Then he looked back at the battered girl. "Are you feeling better young one?"

"Of course she is, my daughter won't die so easily," Dances-with-Balrog boasted. "Unlike you pussy magicians."

Grendel-the-Really-Old being old and wise ignored his comment. Apparently, he had treated her injuries while her daddy had sat by and watched.

Shinsoo looked around. She was lying on a couch in Grendel's tree library. Despite the pain, she got up and managed to ask: "How did I get here?"

"Quinza brought you back," Grendel answered kindly.

"Quinza?" Shinsoo quizzed.

"He's one of my pupils," the other explained. "A distinguished arch mage. He picked you up and brought you back."

"Oh…" Shinsoo looked down thoughtfully and mouthed. An arch mage huh? He must have been a really great somebody like Billy. Looked as if she had some thanking to do.

"Ahem!" her father coughed. This broke Shinsoo's train of thoughts and she looked up at her dad who was sitting in a rather uncouth position on an arm chair.

"You know that I've called you here for a reason," he said. "We have an important task to entrust to you."

Important task? Not washing dishes or killing wild boars? Shinsoo perked.

"Grendel, tell her."

The magician who had been hovering close to her dad now floated over to where Shinsoo was seated.

"Young one," he said. "Have you ever heard of the Feyren?"

"Uh, Fey- what?" she responded.

"Feyren," Grendel cleared his throat.

"You already know about the fairies—ethereal beings that inhabit Orbis and Ellnia. Although they are small beings, they have a great capacity for magic. Generally, they dislike humans, but once in a while a pair of them will fall in love…" He paused to catch his breath. "It is from these kind of marriages that a special kind of being is born… neither fairy, nor human… but with powers surpassing both. We call these people the Feyren."

"Fairies think they are dirty, an impurity to their race. And humans hunt them down in order to harness their power. That's why most of them keep their fairy blood and secret and mingle with normal humans. It's possible to have met one and to not have recognized what you saw…"

"Um," Shinsoo raised her hand and piped. "About my quest…"

"Patience, patience… I'm getting to that," the old man said. Then he went on with his explanation.

"Recently," he began. "There has been a guild that has become the target of many other guilds. By target, I mean a target of violent attacks. This guild you see has been harbouring some Feyren. No one really knows who they are so they make random snags at the people in the guild, landing them in the hospital…"

Grendel sighed. "I've tried to get them to disband or at least send the Feyren away… but till now, no one has left and the guild is in as great danger as it was before."

Shinsoo could see that beneath his bushy beard, Grendel was very troubled. He was pacing the room, except that he was doing it in the air. The old magician let out an irritable sigh. Probably this issue had been weighing on his mind for the longest time. Although Shinsoo's life had been pretty problem free, Grendel's troubled face was so troubled that she felt as if she could understand his pain.

"To be exact there are three Feyren," he said, holding out his hand and indicating the number with his fingers. "But they're very tight-lipped about their identities."

"Your job is to find the Feyren and to separate the guild members before anything else happens to them. This is the job I'm entrusting to you."

Oh…

Ooooooooooooooh…

"So… how do I split the guild up?" Shinsoo quizzed.

"Hmph! That's for you to find out on your own," Dances-with-Balrog, who till this point had been largely ignored, butted in. "However, we do have a clue for you."

"One of the Feyren is Quinza. They one who helped you back there."

Dances-with-balrog whipped a photo out of nowhere and waved it at Shinsoo.

Shinsoo was very curious to know what her saviour looked like. Hurriedly, she took the piece of paper from her daddy's hand. It was a portrait shot of a man. One glance and Shinsoo inhaled. Sharp, his features were so sharp they almost looked beautiful. Shinsoo hadn't really seen anyone quite like him. The stern unsmiling face, the elegant robe… He was every bit a fairy. He wore a snowy white fringe under his Reverse Coral, it was tousled as if he had been walking through miles and miles in a blizzard and the wind had gotten into his hair. And his eyes… they were a bright cerulean. They were keen eyes, those that looked as if they could split you right down to the soul. Certainly he had to be a very intelligent man…

Eh?

The more Shinsoo stared the stranger the picture looked. Something wasn't right… this person… he looked very much like the man in the bushes this morning. That man… the bushes… no one else was there to help her… except…

Shinsoo's jaw dropped. It had to be him! This man! This man!

It was definitely him.

When the realization hit her she knew, her normal life as she knew it was pretty much over.

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello! I'm HaeSensei. I haven't written in a long time so please be kind to me. This story was based off a webcomic I've been creating. However, due to photoshop dying on me, I have been unable to continue and have turned it into text. So if you have a vivid imagination, you can think of it in terms of anime._

_I enjoy writing happy stories, and hopefully this will bring a smile to your face. Have fun~_


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